 Hiltrun and I at 4,500 m on Cotopaxi Hello friends and family The break last week was because I went on holiday with Hiltrun. We started in the Andes in Ecuador and climbed to 4500 m (14,800 ft – higher than Mt Cook ) where I got altitude sickness. Then we went to the Galapagos Islands and swam with turtles and sea lions. After that we had a day in Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian coast and a day in Santiago, Chile. I arrived home yesterday afternoon. It was wonderful!  A pelican hoping for a free feed Chris minded the place while we were away, and Patrick has started his job of Kaitiaki for the reserve and was locking the gate at night and unlocking it in the morning. One pair of penguins had abandoned their eggs, so we hope that Chris was able to foster them out in time. Other than that, all is well.  Mt Cook from the plane on the way home Today we will candle the rest of the eggs and look for newly hatched chicks. Now that I am home, I will try and sell more of the calendars. If you would like some in lieu of Christmas cards, they are selling for $20 each or 10 for $150. Please help by replying to this email to place your order. Let me know your mailing address and I will post them at our expense.  An iconic Blue footed Booby on the Galapagos Have a great week!
Rosalie  A fine penguin on a fine natural nest but with no wife Hello friends and family I have my tomatoes planted! The potatoes are in as well and the grass is growing. The temperatures are hovering in the low teens. Most of the penguins have settled down to brood their eggs but some are fighting with the neighbours and others are not sure what they are supposed to be doing!  Goodbye Erect crested penguin - go well On Monday I went to town for some more rabbit fencing and enjoyed the scenery on the way. Some of the lambs have already had their tails removed and once this happens they grow up so fast. In the afternoon I released the Crested penguin and was pleased to see that we have our (Doug’s) first lamb. By Tuesday it had a friend.  Two brand new lambs As I was leaving for town, I noticed an object in the lovely new gateway to the reserve. When I checked it out, I was very concerned to see that it was an unsupervised camp cooker. I do hope that the entrance way has been insured!  An unsupervised camp cooker in the new entrance way. Chris and Hiltrun came up on Tuesday and we did monitoring rounds and planted more trees and ferns. They returned on Friday and we “candled” the early eggs to see if they are developing correctly. All but 2 of them appeared to be healthy. All the eggs were returned to their nests and we now have advanced notice of 2 possible fostering opportunities.  A Juvenile YEP having a day at home Two of the returned Juveniles that we have seen in the colony are chicks from the same nest.
They both had diphtheria so seeing them again is doubly sweet. Have a great week! Rosalie  No eggs so lets go fishing Hello friends and family On Tuesday Hiltrun and I did the monitoring rounds and the news was not good – no more eggs laid. I found another egg on Wednesday which had us with 44 nests (47 last year) and we found one on Friday, bringing us to 45. The weather has been quite spring-like. Warm days with lots of sun, and episodes of high winds that broke branches and dropped the temperatures.  The scarred warrior with his wounded flipper The fighting penguin from last week healed nicely and so he has been released and a dummy egg put in his nest to calm him down and keep him away from the neighbours. He was brooding it the next day, with his feathers all clean so he had been to sea for a wash.  Kowhai in the garden Yesterday I joined Elaine, Jan and Stewart on the Shag Point trapping round. The reserve was in full bloom with Clematis and gorse everywhere. We trapped one stoat but there was no penguin sign at all. It was lovely to hear the Bellbirds.  A Goldfinch in breeding plumage on the clothesline The morning chorus here is such a great way to greet the day.
Have a great week! Rosalie  Feeling so proud of his new nest and new egg! Hello friends and family We did a monitoring round on Tuesday and found 80% of the nests we found last season. These are worrisome times – we have spent the previous year building up to this point and really need to at least hold our numbers to feel that the penguins have a chance of a future. We face the same tensions each year – where are all the penguins from last season? We know that 4 of our breeding females died, but where are the others?  Found in the reserve - a dead White Faced Storm Petrel in breeding plumage Julia and Tama visited on Wednesday and it was great to be able to discuss monitoring and rehab issues in an open and honest way. They understand the stress of waiting for penguins to lay eggs, and the absurdity of having your success resting in the behaviour of penguins!  Yay - the Titi are back. They arrived from Siberia on 25th September Lelie and her husband visited on Thursday because they want to help us save penguins. Their main interest is Little penguins so it was nice to be able to sing the praises of the Helps at Flea Bay and the good work done by the Picton aquarium for their birds. It was also nice that there are 2 new Little penguin boxes built by Walter, sitting at my front door, waiting to be planted in the forest.  So are the Spoonbills! In the afternoon, Sue and Mirram arrived in their giant camper. We went out to Fleur’s for dinner which was such a treat. Friday’s weather was very kind for showing them around and it was such a lovely catch up. They left on Saturday morning and Chris and Hiltrun arrived. Hiltrun and I did the Yellow-eyed penguin nest round and we now have a total of 43 nests with eggs and one injured male in care that had probably been fighting.  The last thing we want to see - a bleeding penguin under a bush, needing help Have a great week!
Rosalie |
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August 2023
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